Here Are The 10 Strangest Things That Ever Happened In Iowa

Like most states do, Iowa has some pretty weird, pretty crazy stories to tell. For example, there was that one time that we went to war with Missouri, and that other time we built a 380-mile road in one hour. Didn’t know about those things? Well, you’re in for a treat, because here are 10 of the strangest things that have ever happened in Iowa…

1. Every year since 1900, the town of Britt has named a Hobo King (and sometimes Hobo Queen) as a part of their Hobo Days festival.

5. In 2007, Anamosa State Penitentiary had to spend $6,000 to replace all of its locks because a retired guard auctioned off his guard keys for $12, and the locks that the keys were meant for may have still been in use.

8. Iowa and Missouri once went to war with each other. The Honey War was a bloodless dispute over territory which led to the militias facing each other, one Missouri sheriff being arrested for collecting taxes in Iowa, and three trees containing bee hives being cut down.

9. A graffiti artist named Paco Rosic bought an abandoned warehouse in Waterloo and recreated Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling. Then he turned the place into a restaurant, which you can now go eat at.

10. After a concert at Clear Lake's Surf Ballroom in February of 1959, Buddy Holly's plane crashed into a field, killing him and everyone on board. After the snow melted the next spring, Holly's iconic glasses were found in the field and turned in to the Cerro Gordo County Sherriff’s office, where they sat filed away for the next 21 years before eventually being returned to Holly's widow. The glasses can now be seen on exhibit at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas.